How to Prevent Listeria Infections

Listeria bacteria is always found in environment and contamination, especially in food and water, is the major cause of the infection. You can prevent yourself from catching listeria infection by eating safe and properly cooked food, especially meat, and drinking clean water. Generally, guidelines are available for prevention from Listeria and you can avoid the infection by following those guidelines in your daily eating and drinking routine. Still, if you catch the bacteria, try to treat the infection immediately.

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Instructions

1

Use all cleanliness and hygiene guidelines while preparing your food, eating it and storing it. Generally, eating stored food is not recommended as it is one of the causes of spread of the infection and you can protect yourself from it by eating fresh and healthy food.

2

Always wash your hands before starting preparing the food and also use properly sterilized pots in the kitchen. At the use of a pot for example, it should be dry and sterilized. Also all your utensils should be cleaned according to hygiene standards. This will effectively protect you from the infection.

3

Properly cook raw foods, especially food obtained from dairy resources like milk, meat and value-added food products. Consumption of half-cooked food items is major cause of listeria infection, and you can easily avoid it by thoroughly cooking your food.

4

At the time of storing your food, keep poultry and meat separate from vegetables. Keeping different types of foods together can result in development of bacteria, as vegetables are like to catch water quickly and also have the capability to store water for a longer period of time. So, make sure you keep all the food items separate from each other.

5

While storing food make sure you select right level of temperature for them. Also, store the perishable items in the refrigerator so that they stay fresh and usable for a longer period of time. Storing food at a warm temperature can cause development of bacteria and by consuming such food you can risk catching the infection.

6

Do not keep the perishable food items stored or otherwise for a longer period of time. Try to eat all these food items quickly as they are more prone to catching and harboring bacteria than other food items. If you leave these food items stored for months and then consume them, you are more likely to catch the infection.

7

While preparing vegetable food items, make sure you wash them thoroughly. Generally, vegetables are not easy to wash and you might need to wash them more than once before they are safe for cooking. Do not cook unwashed vegetables, they are likely to cause the infection quickly and you can get sick by eating the uncleaned food, even if you are able to avoid the infection.